Would you like family to skydive

[Ruskin 0]

I recently posted in the Womens only forum about Skydiving after a baby. This has led me to post a few other questions here.
My first question is - do men feel any differently than women about the subject of women skydiving after a baby? Do men feel that it is irresponsible of a woman to continue skydiving after a baby? Are there any men out there who decided not to skydive after becoming a parent?
This also led on to the fact that if you take your children to a dropzone with you, they may start jumping eventually. I personally would not feel completely happy with any of my family skydiving even though I have done!! Does anyone else feel the same?

[za_skydiver 0]

Hell no! I think skydiving is a beautiful sport. My fiance did an tandem, loved it, but its not for her. She's pregnant right now, and i won't stop jumping now or after the baby is born. If my child ever wants to jump i would be very happy for them to do that. After all let them experience life the way they want to. Skydiving is a risk in life, just like everything else in life.

Some dream of flying, i live the dream...

[IanHarrop 37]

I don't have a problem with women skydiving whether or not thay've had kids.

Do have a problem with kids growing up to skydive? Nope, but I will admit that I was watching closely when my son did his first freefall

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[tbrown 26]

So far, my wife made one static line jump in 1980 and neither of our two kids have jumped, though they are both old enough. The older kid plans on making a tandem this summer and perhaps an AFF after that, but no serious plans to pick up the habit. The younger kid doesn't say much about it. My wife has no interest in jumping again, even though she's never experienced freefall, she says she got all she wanted from the one jump.

I've made it VERY clear to both the kids , as well as my wife that they don't ever have to jump to please the old man. If they want to jump, then fine, but I'm a firm believer that no one should ever jump unless they really really want to.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[Ironmanjay 0]

Ahh you know I've theoretically asked myself this question too. I'm still up in the air about the whole thing since I am not a parent. It personally doesn't bother me that other moms and dads are skydiving.....Ive seen parents do whole lot worse to their kids then that!!
I have friends who now have kids and wont even try one tandem so it all depends. I think if you are already a skydiver before you have kids then it will be an easier decision then if you have kids and get into it
As of right now on my perspective on life I would continue to skydive if I had kids.

[gitRdone 0]

I love to skydive with my family, I jump with 4 of my kids and my son-in-law. While I do still jump when they are not around I much prefer to jump with the kids... My wife is planning to do a tandem this summer, I don't expect she will want to do much more than that but she joins us at the dropzone quite often.

[jm951 0]

My youngest son gave me a gift cert for AFF this Chrismas. He's already gotten his jump wings from the USAF in Colorado Spr. Little did this kid realize that the old man always has wanted to try skydiving and he just triggered a new addiction. I have no problems with family jumping, so long as they do it voluntarily. My daughter won't even ride in an airplane unless there is no other way. My wife has no interest in jumping. She's mainly concerned that I get employed again with ins before breaking something while outside playing.

[floridadiver81 0]

On the subject of family supporting jumping...my brother and i are the only ones in my family that jump..as far as i know. He is the one responsible for getting me into the sport. I am not a parent yet bu my personal views as far as mothers and fathers jumping is....as long as they are doing it safely and not raising the already high risk of this sport(swooping etc) then it shouldnt be a problem. Some others have already stated that life itself is high risk. Skydiving is just another...hobby for some...sport for others. There were more vehiucular deaths that skydiving fatalities. Like stated earlier..life itself is risky...as long as your child(ren) are taken care of in the event that something would happen to you...then i say jump till your hearts content...which i know for me will be a hell of alot

"Age has absolutely nothing to do with knowledge, learning, respect, attitude, or personality." -yardhippie
"Fight the air, and the air will kick your ass!!! "-Specialkaye

[cocheese 0]

All i can tell you is that i wouldn't want my parents to start skydiving. They're getting old and fragile.

[Andy9o8 0]

My wife is about as whuffo as they come. She tolerates my skydiving, period, and that's only becasue the kids are no longer small. The only time in our lives she actually encouraged me to skydive is when I was studying 25 hours a day for the bar and was (so she claims ) acting like a complete asshole, and she wanted me do do something to loosen up so she could tolerate living in the same home with me. That was 4 years before our first kid was born. Anyhow, I didn't jump that year anyway because I wasn't very current and we were pretty broke.

It would be nice to be part of a skydiving family, but that just ain't the case for me. In a way, I'm actually glad, for purely selfish reasons, that my daughters don't want to skydive (so far): if anything ever were to happen to one of them on a jump, even if it's on the other side of the world from where I am, my wife and my entire family would blame me for it and never forgive me.

FWIW, I stopped jumping for over 15 years when my wife got pregnant with our older kid. I felt it was too dangerous a thing to do while the kids were still little. I have to admit, there is a part of me, way in the back of my mind, that cringes a bit when I'm aware of mothers who skydive (or ride motorcycles, or are police officers in urban areas, etc.) while their children are small. I'm about as non-sexist as they come, but I know from personal experience that small children really rely very heavily on their mothers for psychological security.

[Miami 0]

My wife quit jumping when we had our daughter, but I did not. Our circumstances were a little different though...she had 21 jumps and was fairly accident prone, I had 3000 jumps and jumping was a portion of our income.

Now our daughter is three and a half years old, my wife has 23 jumps (has done a couple of tandems since), and I'm at 4600 with jumping still a portion of our income. I will fully support (and look forward to) my daughter if and when she wants to jump. Hell...she already says she wants to, but I have to wait until she's 7 or 8 (so she'll fit in the tandem harness).

Miami

[FallingDuck 0]

I don't see a problem with parents jumping, hawever it is a decision that they have to make for themselves. As long as you feel safe go out and have fun.

[aguila 0]

I found no problem when I started skydiving and my daughter wanted to jump.

Fortunately she did not and now I prefer my kids to stay away from the sport. No problem with my ex-mother-in-law

Gonzalo

It cannot be done really means I do not know how to do it ... yet

[Ms.sofaking 0]

I have 4 children in my life who lost a father to BASE.He skydived for 25 years. I still jump.I still drive a car.I still leave my house.

They grieve tremendously for him.No more or less than they would if they lost him in any other way.But, the lesson they learned from him, was not to hide from life, but embrace it.Live every moment of it.It is brief and finite, and you only get one.They are not angry with how he lived.They admire it.Your life could end at any time in many ways.Life in and of itself is a risk.I want my children to live it.

"I'm not sure how it's going to turn out, except I'll die in the end, she said. So what could really go wrong? -----Brian Andreas

[steve1 5]

I quit jumping when my kids were growing up. It just didn't seem right to me at the time. Part of the reason was financial. If I had been a little richer instead of so damn good looking I might have kept at it, (at least part time). I mean it takes big money to be a parent these days.

My kids are grown now, and I'm back jumping again. It's great to be back. My oldest daughter has made one tandem. She loved it. She wants to continue, but most of her money is going into finishing graduate school. I also have mixed feelings on her continuing in the Sport. She suffers from depression and a sport like skydiving would help her, I believe. But then again I'd feel like hell if anything bad happened to her skydiving, so I'm not incouraging her either way. It will be up to her, if she continues.

I've asked my youngest daughter if she wants to make a tandem. Everytime she says yes, but always has some reason not to. Down deep I think she may be really scared about it, and I'm not going to push it. If she wants to jump, I'll help her, but until then I'm going to leave it up to her.

One of my good friends is a skydiver with two daughters. He recently lost one of them to a freak overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol. He has since quit jumping, saying, "I only have one daughter left, and I'm going to be there for her." I think that somehow he is blaming himself for his older daughters death. I wish he'd start jumping again.....Skydiving is good for your soul, and he needs that right now....Steve1

[DSE 3]

I waited to jump until my daughter was out of high school. I assumed I needed to be there for her no matter what.
She decided to skydive after seeing me jump, and got her A license around the same time I got my C. While I'm very glad to be around the DZ with her, it's always a slight nagging feeling that my only child is involved in this sport.
The bigger concern has been how a couple of the guys behave around her at the DZ. There are those too ignorant to realize that you don't shit where you eat, and she's had a hard time being a cute young woman at a mostly-male DZ. It seems she may leave the sport as a result. I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

[Zing 2]

I've got a bunch of family who have jumped. Me and one brother did it a bunch, two other brothers, two sisters and my dad did a few jumps each and I've a few nieces and nephews who want to make a leap someday.
In days gone by, the bunch of us did a few all family Cessna loads. I watched my brother bounce and live with broken bones. I bounced and lived once, so far, and there was a close call when my brother and a team mate did a harness-hold leap with my sister that ended with her open at about 500 feet and my brother open under 100 feet.
I wasn't there when that happened, but I'll never forget a neighbor of my dad's who was, telling me the story, which ended with this line, "Well, I was standing there watching them get closer and closer ... and wondering how I was going to tell your dad that two of his kids died."
The neighbor was a fine man upon whom it fell the chore of telling my father that his wife, our mom, was dead, from non-skydiving circumstances just a year or two before that jump.
A year later, I had to do some real sniveling to get the same pilot to fly me and my brother for a leap into my dad's backyard.
I believe one can devote so much effort to avoiding death and danger, that you'll never get to live.

Zing Lurks

[peckerhead 0]

I am a total hypocrit when it comes to this subject.

When I was a teenager I did drugs, had unprotected sex, wrecked cars, and jumped out of airplanes.

I have two young boys now and I would be scared shitless if they acted like I did. The oldest is 10 and my baby is 8.

Now I know how my parents felt.

Payback is a bitch.

[Sane 0]

I'm still a teenager, but I have never wanted kids. Mainly because I know that my hobbies are dangerous, and may one day kill me. I'll admit I am selfish and don't like the idea of stopping myself doing the things I love if I have kids.
One day, when I have experienced a bit more of life my opinion might change, but for now, I just couldn't slow down for kids...

[peckerhead 0]

I felt the same way when I was a teen.

[GPSJane 0]

This is something I have thought on before. I know that when I have kids I will stop skydiving. I just can't carry on doing something that may endanger my lifeor health while I have a small baby. As much as I will hate to quit I think I will have to.

I would also want my husband to quit with me (I'll have to marry a skydiver!) but I would not force him to.

On the other hand, I might just start up again once they are older.

Oh well, it's just as well I'm not having kids any time soon!

Only skydivers know why the birds sing; they don't have to pack a parachute!

[Ironmanjay 0]

Quote

I waited to jump until my daughter was out of high school. I assumed I needed to be there for her no matter what.
She decided to skydive after seeing me jump, and got her A license around the same time I got my C. While I'm very glad to be around the DZ with her, it's always a slight nagging feeling that my only child is involved in this sport.
The bigger concern has been how a couple of the guys behave around her at the DZ. There are those too ignorant to realize that you don't shit where you eat, and she's had a hard time being a cute young woman at a mostly-male DZ. It seems she may leave the sport as a result. I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

I think you should set those BOYS straight Dad if they don't know how to treat a good looking lady.

[jimmytavino 16]

the short answer..... Yes.... Of course I would LIKE it, if any family member, WHO WANTS to make a jump, actually follows up and completes that quest.....

Would i press them to do it??? NO
Would I try to sell the idea, or convince them to do it ?? NO !!!

Would I steer them to a safe and fun DZ IF they asked??? YES...

because then... they might have a better perception of just what it IS that caught MY attention when i first brought the "sport of the space age" to the dinner table list of conversation subjects.....back when i was a teenager...

Over 30 years ago, i arrived at a local dz for a routine day of jumping to see that my college aged brother was there,,, and was a part of the First jump Class which was being taught that day... the DZO asked me to JM him on his one and only static line jump . It was out of a deHaviland beaver,,, and he loved it. he now is a private pilot and a 20+ year FAA Air Traffic ControllerMy little sister took a s/ l course at a Dz local to HER college a year or two later, but was foiled by weather... Perhaps she will someday enjoy a tandem.
My oldest brother visited us 5 years ago and we made a skydive together, he was a Tandem passenger and I did his video... Thumbs UP all around..as for my Wife and Kids... They have each made One jump, a tandem....
My wife delighted me a couple of years ago,, when after 20+ years of being around the sport, she announced, " i think i'd like to make a jump" so we did.
Our daughter and some of her friends from college had enjoyed a tandem the year before, and our son made a jump the same year as his Mom, but a few months later...
All in All it has been great.... every one of these family members had a great time, got to meet some of my dear friends within the sport, have a better appreciation of just what it IS that we enjoy, and are now enthusiastic supporters of a sport that once might have frightened them... Best part.... i got to jump with each of them....and shoot the videos...
and so, this summer,,, BEFORE she reaches the age of 50 !! I will invite my sister to join us for a tandem jump, so that she can complete the mission which she set out on, so long ago..... I think I'll plan to ask here to visit when the CASA comes to town....

signed,
jimmy,,,,, only one of the MANY skydiving tavinos

[cjsgrlsx3 0]

I didn't start jumping till June. My girls are 13 and 7. They really like the idea. My younger one has no intentions of going but likes to go to the DZ. My older daughter really wants to and talks of us one day being able to jump together.
Me.....I have alot of work to do. If I keep landing like I did yesterday then I may get hurt and decide to quit. I don't really see that happening. But I am the only one who skydives in the family.

[DSE 3]

Quote

I think you should set those BOYS straight Dad if they don't know how to treat a good looking lady.

Most of the guys were pretty cool about it; one just didn't get it. He's an employee of the DZ, so he had to be handled differently, and it didn't work too well. I think every DZ probably has a self-appointed Romeo that wants to screw everything regardless of the cost to whomever. I guess that in some parts of the world it's OK to screw your sister, even when she's 18 and you're 31. After all, Borat thinks it was OK.